It’s pretty easy to have gratitude when everything seems to be going right in your life isn’t it? But what about having gratitude in all those moments when everything seems to be going wrong? Then it becomes not so easy right?
In my many attendances to recovery meetings, I hear people share quite a bit about how grateful they are, but I’ve also noticed that usually happens when they’re having a great day. When I’ve seen those same people dealing with a really bad day in their life, they either don’t share at all at the meetings, or if they do, it’s all about how their life sucks and how they’re thinking about going back to their addictions again.
I like to talk a lot about this subject both in my writing and in my speaking because I have found it’s one of the keys that has kept me going through thick and thin in my own life. For the past several years, having endured high levels of physical pain has made it extremely difficult to feel like any day is ever going my way. Because of this, I’ve had to practice gratitude during even my worst of days just to keep going.
Let me be the first one to tell you, if you don’t know this already, that the secret to migrating through all of life’s ups and downs is in finding gratitude during all of it. To be frank, that’s not the easiest task at all, especially for someone like me who deals with massive health issues on a daily basis. There have been many days that I have awoken to where my body was hurting so bad that the only way I’ve made it through that day was to find even the smallest of things to be grateful for. When I haven’t, it has led me into behaving just like those who I’ve heard share negatively at those meetings when life has thrown them too many curve balls. The way I’ve found to handle those curve ball based days is to look for gratitude in just about everything.
Maybe it comes from someone that calls me out of the blue just to say hello who I haven’t heard from in awhile.
Maybe it comes from a compliment I get from someone who liked what I had to say when I attended and shared at a recovery meeting.
Maybe it comes from a rainbow I saw somewhere in the sky.
Maybe it comes from someone who told me they loved me.
Maybe it comes from a hug I received.
Maybe it comes from someone who found a way to make me laugh for a moment.
Maybe it comes from relating to someone else’s struggles where my heart was moved into understanding them a lot better.
Or maybe it even comes from an animal that visited me and brought me comfort.
The list goes on and on of all the things that not too long ago, I would have overlooked when I felt like I was having a crappy day. To ensure I stay in a state of being grateful, I have placed all of these things in a gratitude journal at the end of my day for quite a number of years now. So regardless of how bad my ego might feel my day was, I look back upon it and find at least nine things I can be grateful for and write them down each and every night.
I have to admit that there’s one thing I’ve noticed that’s changed for the better because of trying to keep this attitude of gratitude in even my worst of days. I’ve been able to endure quite a bit of life’s challenges while maintaining a level of positivity and hope. That being said, I can just imagine the level of gratitude I’m going to feel towards God when my days are no longer filled with so much of this chronic pain. But until that day arrives, I just want you to know that regardless of how much I’m struggling to make it through my days, I’m going to keep on practicing gratitude in EVERY moment, no matter what!
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
